Ohio auditor agrees ex-aide bilked Wood County airport

8/13/2008

BOWLING GREEN State Auditor Mary Taylor s office has determined, as expected, that a former employee of the Wood County Regional Airport Authority stole more than $68,000 in airport funds.

An audit report released yesterday said Preston Morrison, a former assistant manager at the airport, mishandled $68,847 in airport funds, making unauthorized credits to his personal credit card from fuel sales, hangar rent, pilot supplies, and other airport revenue between April, 2007, and March, 2008.

Mr. Morrison, 22, of Rawson, Ohio, was an aviation studies major at Bowling Green State University at the time. In June, he was indicted by a Wood County grand jury on a fourth-degree felony theft charge. His case is pending in Wood County Common Pleas Court.

The state audit concluded that the airport authority needed to improve its internal spending controls.